Stocking welt



March 31, 1936. Q NEBEL 2,035,826

STOCKING WELT F'iied March 12, 1954 IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Ernstscar Nebel, Hatboro, Pa.; Fred C. Gartner and E. Sta.nley Martin executors of said Ernst Oscar Nebel, deceased Apfilication Marc]: 12, 1934, Serial N0. 715,043

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a. knitted stocking anti, more particularly to the welt strueture thereof, and ha.s for its primary object the knitting of the welt;portion of the stocking in a manner that the same will have greater stretch without sacrificing the desire d elasticity thereof.

An object of the invention resides in the novel manner of constructing and arranging the loose courses in relation to ach other and in relation to the tight courses so'that various portions of the weh; may have diflerent degrees cf stretch and elasticity.

A feature of the invention resides in the novel manner of knitting the knee portion cf the stocking so that the same will have greater stretch than other parts of the stocking fabric but still retain the deslred degree of elasticity to retain the shape of the welt portion cf. the stocking.

20 My invention is distinguished in the novel manner of forming companion loose courses so that the fabric will be properly balanced.to have the required appearance.

My jnvention is also distinguished in the increased number of loose courses in the freut panel fabric when compared with the rear panel fabrics, the loose courses of the front knee panel being arranged in overlapping relation w1th the loose courses of the reai panel fabrics 150 give increased stretch 1:0 the knee portion of the welt.

'With these anti other objects in view, the Inventlon will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached. drawing, whereinz Figure 1 is a fragmentary view 015 the upper portion cf the stocking.

Figure 2 is a. side elevatlon of the stocking.

1 Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view cf the knltted oops.

Figure 4 is ave'zrtical sectional view o! the uppe r portion of the stocking.

Again referring to the drawing, illustrating one of the many constructions of my inventlon, I 45 designates the wel1 2 designates the we1t extension, and 3 designates the leg of the stocklng, knitt ed either on a. full fashion machine or upon a circular knitting machine.

The weit (I) 1s provided with an unter ply (l) and an i1mer ply (5) whereas the welt extension (2) is' 015 slngle thickness. In the knittlng o1 the elt portion of the stocking, I provide a. front knee panel (6) and 1ear panels (I und 8) knitted in a. manner to have difierent relative degrees of .stretch and elasticlty.

Referring to F1gure 1, I have diagiammaticall3r illustrated loose courses (9) and tight courses (III) arranged over the entire area of the welt aind weh; extension, each loose course (9) being knitted as shown in Figure 3 to provide groups 5 of loose loops (II) anti groups of tight loops (I2) the groups of loose loops (II) being diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 1 by heavy llnes (I3) and the groups of tight loops (I2) being diagrammatically illustrated by dotted lines 10 (I I).

Attention is ca1led to the fact that in Figure 1 a greater number of groups of loose loops a.re

arranged in the front panel than are arranged in the rear panels and, further, a grea.ter number 15 of groups of tight loops are arranged in the rear panels than in the freut knee panel. Thus I am able to obtain greater stretch in the knee pane1 than can be obtained in the rear pane1s but the elasticity of the rear panels i's greater' than the elasticity of the knee panel and thus I combine this variation in stretch and elasticity existing between the various panels in provlding the welt and welt; extension as a. unit wlth the rei;uired degree of stretch and elastlcity.

II: will also be noted by referring 1:0 .Figure 1 that the end loose loops of the g'roups arranged in the knee panel fabric am arranged. in overlapping relation with the end loose loops 01 the groups arranged in the rear panels, thereby 30 materially increasing the stretchability 0I the edge portlons of the front knee panel fabrlc.

I ha.ve found, from the manufacture and 00mmercialization of my invention; that my type of welt meets all requirements of the trade In rela- 5 tion to durability, extra stretch, and elasticity and, furth'er, broken loops are reduced to a. minimum due to the novel manner of knitting and associating the loose and tight courses as we1l as the loose and tight loops.

Referring to Figure 3, I ha.ve diagrammatically illustrated a. pair of loose courses 9) connected to a. pair of tight courses (III). In the knitting cf the first loose course (9) I begin with a. group of tight loops (I9) and then knit a set 01 loops 45 -(20) of varying lengths so as to connect the of loose loops with the g1oup of tight loops (24).

Due to the arrangement of the se ts of loops of varying lengths, I am able establish a, more uniform connection between the Dairs o: loose 55 1005 coufses and, further, the deep portions (2) of the needle loops (26) of the first course of each pair cf loose courses are rangecl on a plane paralleling that of the deep portions (27) of the sinker loops (28) of the second course of the pairs 015 100p courses, thereby enabling the tight courses to be ranged in parallel relation with each other Ior the production cf a fabric cf more uniform texture.

I am aware cf t he fact, that an increased degree of stretch has beex 1 given the stocking welts by providing loose courses 01' by provicling transferred loops or elongated loops but, in such cases,

increased stretch has bee n accomplished :at a sacrifice in elasticity, particularly where the maximum amount of stretch is obtained. I have found that with my particular invention the novel arrangement, design, and corelation of the groups of loose courses in relation 110 each. other and in relation to a predetermined selected number 015 tightpourses is such that I accomplish an increased degree of strg'tch without sacriflcing the required degree of elasticity, and, further, with my invention, th welt fabric i s afforded its greatest degree of stretch ab the point of greatest Stress; that is, the portion of the fabric povering the knee of the wearer.

In concludj'ng, I wish 130 call attention 1:0 the fact that various numer ical combinations cf loose courses and tight courses may be used other than illustralted and described and the numerical relation between the loose and tight courses and th e relative position of the groups of loose loops and tight loops may be varied to a great extent .without departing from the spirit of my inventiqn. For instance, I may start the knitting of the knee panel fabric and the rear panel falbrlcs by constructing the first course as a loose course with the sets of loose loops arranged in the rear panel fabrics and the Sets of tight loops arranged in the knee panel fabric; then knit the second course with the sets of tight loops in the rear panel fabrics and the set of loose loops in the knee panel fabric; then knit the thlrd course entirely of tight loops and then knit the fourth. course as a loose course with the sets of tight loops arrang9d in the rear panel fabrics ancl the sei; of loose loops arranged in the freut knee panel, and then repeating this knitting of the four courses throughout the area of the rear panel fabrics and the knee panel fabric. I also wish to state thatit is wilqhin tl1e scope df my invention to provide a group of loose courses in very close proximity to each other ab the picot edge of the stocking before knitting therear panel fabrics and the knee panel fabric, each of the loose courses ab the picot edge of the stocking being constructed entirely of loose loops throughout the entire length thereof. With this construction, lt will be appreciated that I provide a degree of stretch in the rear panel fabrics greater than the plain knitted fabric of the stocking, provide a stretch in the knee. panel fabric greater than that of the rear panel fabrics and, finally, provide a stretch at the picot edge of the stocking greater than that of the front knee panel fab1ic, thereby providing three degrees of stretch in the Welt according to the strains created in the use of the stocking. Therefore, Ido not desire to be limited in protection in any manner whatsoever except as sei: forth in the following claimS.

What I claim is:

1. A. full fashioned Welt and welt extension fabric consisting of tight courses and loose courses, said t'ight courses extending from selvedge edge selvedge edge of the welt fabric and consisting entirely cf tight; loops and said loose courses extending from selvedge edge to selvedge edge of the Welt fabric and consisting of rows of loose loops and rows of tight loops,

the end sei: of loops of the rows of loose loops varying in length and connecting and merging the rows of loose loops into the rows of tight loops.

2. A ful l fashioned welt fabric consisting of tight courses and loose courses, said tight courses extending from selvedge edge to selvedge edge of the Welt fabric and constituted entirely of tight loops, and said loose courses extending from selvedge edge to selvedge edge of the welt fabric and including rows of loose loops and rows of tight loops, ce rtain of said loose courses having their rows of loose loops arranged at the interm'ediate portion of the fabric and the remaining of said loose courses having their rows of loose loops disposed at the selvedge edges of th e fabric, the end sei: of loops of the rows of luesp loops varying in length and connecting and me'rging the rows of loose loops into the rows of tig ht loops.

ERNST OSCAR NEBEL. 

